My carputer

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firebat45

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i could debate this more with you. but i wont.

IMHO too much work for too little payoff.

in dash dvd with jump drive and nav would have looked cleaner and done everything this will.

(and is "made" for the climate and abuse of being in a car daily)

I'm just going to add a few things:

These screens are made for the climate and abuse of a car. Mine just survived a winter with temps down to almost -40 degrees with no ill effects whatsoever.

Yes, you can achieve a lot of the functionality with a in-dash GPS/Multimedia unit, but those cost as much (or more) than this setup, and it does not do the same thing. Find me a DVD/Nav unit that you can use to tune the Tweecer with.

Yes, watching movies on it while driving is ********, but that's hardly unique to a computer, you can do that with any sort of DVD player. Using it for music is no different than using a normal HU. It also functions as a hands-free unit for cell-phones, so it can even make you less distracted while driving, if you're someone who talks while driving. On top of all that, since it's a computer, it's fairly trivial to set up voice recognition commands, so he doesn't have to actually look away or touch it at all.

From experience, he will not be tuning while driving. A touchscreen gives far too little resolution to read and select the values in CalEdit. To tune, he will need to hook up a mouse and keyboard, probably wireless.

Lastly, that looks a little rough, but he said he's not done yet. Mine looks a lot nicer than some drop-in unit because it's nicely moulded into the dash, not slapped in there with some adapter kit. It's not even that much work, and it's nice having something custom made (by yourself) than something you just bought off a shelf.
 

38SHO

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I think its cool, you can do so many things and all in one unit

I would do something like this but I don't really drive my car a lot and I've reduced weight in the car

what if you go on a road trip or have other people in the car, something like this would be a blast.......

you guys are all too negative, you tell him a computer is dumb, then you say you could replace it with all these computerized devices.......
 

1995SHO9

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I agree, I mean I personally don't like how it looks. but like I said before, it isn't my car, if he's happy let him be happy. You don't have to bash what he is proud about.
 

SHO_DOODmorrris

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I agree, I mean I personally don't like how it looks. but like I said before, it isn't my car, if he's happy let him be happy. You don't have to bash what he is proud about.

Again... its not done. :p thanks john


P.S Its really nice to have the dashboard playing realtime on my screen! provides for a lot less extra guages!
 
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kikkinasphalt

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I'm just going to add a few things:

These screens are made for the climate and abuse of a car. Mine just survived a winter with temps down to almost -40 degrees with no ill effects whatsoever.

Yes, you can achieve a lot of the functionality with a in-dash GPS/Multimedia unit, but those cost as much (or more) than this setup, and it does not do the same thing. Find me a DVD/Nav unit that you can use to tune the Tweecer with.

Yes, watching movies on it while driving is ********, but that's hardly unique to a computer, you can do that with any sort of DVD player. Using it for music is no different than using a normal HU. It also functions as a hands-free unit for cell-phones, so it can even make you less distracted while driving, if you're someone who talks while driving. On top of all that, since it's a computer, it's fairly trivial to set up voice recognition commands, so he doesn't have to actually look away or touch it at all.

From experience, he will not be tuning while driving. A touchscreen gives far too little resolution to read and select the values in CalEdit. To tune, he will need to hook up a mouse and keyboard, probably wireless.

Lastly, that looks a little rough, but he said he's not done yet. Mine looks a lot nicer than some drop-in unit because it's nicely moulded into the dash, not slapped in there with some adapter kit. It's not even that much work, and it's nice having something custom made (by yourself) than something you just bought off a shelf.


ok time to shoot this full of holes.

- whats the point of having the ability to tune tweecer, yet no ability to tune while driving. seems like a laptop is the way to go here.
i can run my laptop to my HU, and watch the tweecer in real time if i want to.

- my HU serves as a phone too, and is bluetooth ready. i can make and receive calls as well as upload my phonebook to it.

- mine might be a "drop in" unit but i think my setup is plenty clean. its also up where i can see the screen vs down in front of the shifter where (like you said) have limited visibility .

i have a TON of custom hard work in my car. but ill stand by my statement that my 400.00 kenwood can do as much as a his carputer can regarding functionality in the car. if not more.
 

HoustinoJillian

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lookspretty sweet to me (as in the idea). once the install is cleaned up im sure it'll look sweet visually too.
 
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Holy crap people are opinionated lately. Personally I like the idea. While I probably couldn't use it myself I always thought a screen would fit nicely there.
 

40BelowSummer

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I built one for my SHO a few years ago. 1GHz Via Mini ITX motherboard with an Opus DC-DC smart powersupply in the glovebox. In-dash 7" touchscreen. Here's a few pics:
Car020
STA60074
 
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n8rsk8r

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40 what happened to it? I made a thread back in the day about doing this :( never did though.
 

Mrhappytuzi

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First off this is my 8" Lilliput touch screen and modified bezel epoxyed into place (this is not a finished product and I know you can see the epoxy lol)

IMG00226


second have my laptop that I picked up off Kijiji for like 200 bucks, its a dell inspiron 9200 with a 17" monitor blah blah blah... its a fast computer but way oversized but the deal I got on it I couldn’t get anywhere near the performance of this one for 200 bucks.

Third or soon to be third, I will have my tweecer r/t and will be able to tune and control my engine and display all my stats…

It’s pretty cool. Don’t mind the temp wiring and duct taped head unit as that is temp as well until I buy my new amp for the audio. The laptop is temp until I have more funds this summer to put in a real car computer and have a nice install.

-mitch






That is bad ass man! Ive always wondered the possibility of doing something like this!
 

SHO Continental

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How did I not see this!

Anywho, I'm going to do one in my '93 soon. With a Mac-Mini running 10.5 and XP. GPS, Navigation, Audio etc. I can't see why anyone wouldn't want one. I go on a lot of loooong road trips and messing with the iPod gets old.

Also, if you have a Valentine 1 check this out http://www.kc8unj.com/radar/index.html , duplicates the display and controls from your V1 to your carputer screen and allows for logging.

Also going to add two forward facing cameras, one of them being FLIR (freaken dear!). Waiting for the prices to go down though. :rofl:
 
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Kean_SHO

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i think thats a pretty cool idea, personally. One thing you might consider is running a slim client if you want to replace the laptop. I use computers for work from a company called wincomm (wpc-762). whats really cool about them is that they are completely solid state, no fans or spinning harddrives. Wincomm isn't the only company making this type of computer, if you have trouble finding a reseller. They arn't too expensive, and are about the size of a medium sized amp. something else you might consider is using windows XPE. you can slim down the OS quite a bit and get your boot times fairly short.
post pictures when you get it finished.
 

SHO_DOODmorrris

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i think thats a pretty cool idea, personally. One thing you might consider is running a slim client if you want to replace the laptop. I use computers for work from a company called wincomm (wpc-762). whats really cool about them is that they are completely solid state, no fans or spinning harddrives. Wincomm isn't the only company making this type of computer, if you have trouble finding a reseller. They arn't too expensive, and are about the size of a medium sized amp. something else you might consider is using windows XPE. you can slim down the OS quite a bit and get your boot times fairly short.
post pictures when you get it finished.


Huh... If you dont mind could you PM me some more details? thanks!
 

SHO_DOODmorrris

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I built one for my SHO a few years ago. 1GHz Via Mini ITX motherboard with an Opus DC-DC smart powersupply in the glovebox. In-dash 7" touchscreen. Here's a few pics:
Car020
STA60074

Thats roadrunner right? Could you send me the skin for that? thats pretty good! im probably going to run centrafuse as its much more polished than the roadrunner app but it comes at a price though.
 

Kean_SHO

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well, using linux would be one solution. although, probably not a good solution for Mitch unless he already knows the OS pretty well. XPE isn't all that tough to get installed and still has all the driver support he would need.
Ill PM you some more info tonight when i get back home.
The slim clients I use are completely solid state. The advantages are mostly that it doesn't have any moving parts, so theres less to fail. Most of the machine is a heat sink, so it stays cool enough.
I have been thinking about making a carputer out of one once i get the 3.2 swap done.
 

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